Mr Thank You is your typical gift store every mall complex has at least one of. A little bit better…read morethan a $2 shop but stocking cheaper and more functional items than a souvenir store. Mr Thank You has mainly stocks a range of cheap novelty T-shirts and unisex bags with pop culture references. There is also plenty of cheap jewellery including the teen popular ear stretchers (gauges, tapers and spirals). Angsty youths also have access to knock-off Zippos and various pipes. With identification you can also pick up a hunting knife or two which is always fun to sell side-by-side with instruments used for getting high. The staff members quietly eye you from behind their counter which I think is typical small mall store behavior, especially in a store that attracts excitable teenagers. Though I'm not sure if I received a thank you from Mr Thank You. Come to think of it I don't think he was a man.

Unlike other cluttered and claustrophobic discount stores, The 1 2 3 Dollar Store look almost…read moresparsely stocked. It has supermarket styled aisles of cheap Asian goodies in a corner of Henderson's Westfield Mall. The concentration of $2 shops in this mall is amazing and bargain hunters like myself will want to visit most of them before deciding on an item. The strength of the 1 2 3 Dollar Store is not so much flashy dress-up items, but rather, common household items. There are plenty of cleaning products or handkerchiefs or candles at super cheap prices. An almost sterilized semblance, this store is a place to look for budget items to fill out holes in your ordinary, everyday stock or for a one-off dinner event.

My sister gave me a budget of 3$ here and honestly i was stuck! so much options!! thanks guys love…read moreyou

Don't think this is just a beautiful shop to buy beautiful things for your mum. There's is…read moresomething for everyone here and you'll be surprised by all the unexpected cool stuff you just might want to get for yourself. The lady who runs Kinder Arts is lovely and treats her customers like old friends. The things she chooses to sell are just gorgeous and often you won't see them anywhere else - there's a range of silk velvet handbags in gemstone colours and various shapes that are so stunning I used one for my wedding. There's artworks, jewellery, fashion accessories (a lot of GREAT handbags, I LOVE bags), homewares, toys, even garden features and statuary. There's gift ideas big and small and nothing is ridiculously overpriced as is so often the case in these kinds of boutiques. I particularly love the Kiwiana bent to a lot of the products and the artworks are a really affordable way to put something beautiful on your walls. It's the kind of shop where even the kids like coming. Aside from the toys and other kids' stuff, my boys always talk about how cool the giant wooden spiral tower (for marbles) at the back is. And they are always welcome to play with it even if things get a little bit noisy and overexcited. Nice.

Even though this store is aimed toward older women, I often find myself returning to browse (the…read morestore not the older women). Kinder Arts easily entices me with busy crowded window displays, where every colour jostles for attention and recognition. This gift store has scarves and jewellery for your grandmother but also children's gifts. They have an outdoor retreat full of water features and concrete statues. The have mass-produced art done by some poor Indonesians depicting everything from Tintin pop art to Renaissance inspired canvases. Kinder Art has an eye boggling amount of knickknacks and gifts, with constantly rotated displays. As they are open most weekends, it is a nice store to waste away a lazy Sunday.

Besides the fact that it's very dark inside and a bit of a mysterious maze, I quite like Gift…read moreEmotion. I thought despite the gloominess, the wonderfully friendly shop man brightened up the place with his laughter and attitude. While I was finding my way around the ins and outs of the isles, I could hear him having a happy chat to his customers and being extremely helpful. There is pretty much everything you can imagine here. There's toiletry supplies like cotton buds and dress up outfits. Toys and books too. I thought the books were great. They seemed to be great quality reads for kids and they were very affordable. There were also hats and fake flowers and pots and wrapping paper... so much stuff. I think this would be a great option to visit if you were after a kids birthday present! You couldn't go wrong.

Sunnynook is ten minutes from my house and yet I very seldom go there for some reason - it's one of…read morethose little centres where you only really go for the supermarket and everything else is a bonus. Still, the place does have a couple of wee gems, and Gift Emotion fits this category. Imagine a typical $2 shop mixed with Looksharp with a smaller floor area than either, and with an owner that gives a shit. There, you have Gift Emotion! This is a place I like to come for those little kiddie presents where you need something quick and can't splash big bucks but you still want something cute - think toys and books. Also they sell cheap tennis balls which I seem to be constantly purchasing.

Wandering down Queen Street as I'm want to do on occasion, I came across this little gem of a…read morestore. Well it's actually quite big really, and filled with all sorts of random things you didn't really know that you needed but now that you've seen them you do. It really sucks being a girl sometimes. I have no self control. But anyway back to the story at hand, the shop is filled with gift cards, stationary, pens, soft toys, lamps, wall hangings ( one really cool one that I actually bought for my flat) household items like cups and saucers. The name of the place really exemplifies what it is cause it's a whole lot of general goods I guess, best way to explain it. If your there check out the cute as backpacks, I have a hankering for the red and white polka dot one myself. Once I got up to the counter and was having a chat with the girl on the till, I told her that it was strange that I hadn't come across this place as of yet as I do know my Queen Street, and apparently the store has only just opened like last weekend and because of that I scored a 20% off discount on my wall hanging for the grand opening. Yes indeed this place totally made my day.

One Sunday afternoon, after having Giapo my boyfriend and I decided to walk to Aotea Square to see…read morewhat was happening with the Arts Festival. As we were walking some guy handed us a flyer and out of curiosity we decided to go down the escalator to see what was happening. What was happening was what looked like Daiso's older sister, with less stuff but still rather affordable and cute. They had these beach bags, iphone covers, ipad covers, pens and pencils. It was an opening sale and I was happy with the organisation of the store. Nothing was clustered or all over the place. Great start to a new business!

Quite a brief trip in to suss out the Coin Save in my neighborhood, and what a range of things to…read morebuy in one stop really. It is a cheap store to say the least and has a range of bits and pieces that you would find in any two dollar store anywhere in Auckland, something that I have never seen for sale in a Two dollar store though is the range of BB Guns available. I always thought BB Guns were little plastic devices that didn't cost much, however you can pay anything up to 395 dollars for a really good one. Lots of inexpensive unbranded clothes, and some funny t shirts stood out to me, and they have quite a selection of clothing for a Coin Save.

Affectionately named "the best store in the world" by my partner this store is literally a…read moreone-stop-shop for virtually anything! Whether you are scouting for an extension cord, fish slice, nail polish, sewing kit, BB gun or bikini you are sure to find what you are looking for. Okay so the quality of the products can be questionable but you get what you pay for and let's be honest you only walk into a $2 store if you're looking for a quick-fix. The store is reasonably well laid out but with the familiar clutter of a well-stocked bazaar. The friendly and helpful owners have even managed to squeeze a small curtained change room into the corner! Like I said, best store in the world.

This is a fantastically run store. Halfway through me rummaging through their super-bargain bins,…read moresomeone (customer or employee, I can't remember) knocked over a display of water bottles and everyone in the store rushed to help. Everyone. People gave up the treasures they were clutching in their grubby hands and ran over, and let me tell you, there are some considerable bargains here. This is the kind of goodwill this place gives. There are great deals, great bargains to find, cool stationery, hilarious greeting cards and just a well laid out store. This is what I want my Urban Outfitters gifts section to be like, but they've decided to turn up their nose at me. A lot of the designs run heavy on Paris, New York and skeletons - this is not a complaint. This is me wanting to buy a mini iPad so I can have one of their "Paris, je t'aime" iPad skin. I love it here.

I am currently on a mad stationary/ general homewares spree, for no particular reason, just because…read moreI can really and Typo on Queen street ticks all the boxes for me. There's lots of cool little knick knacks available that you don't see elsewhere (well not for these prices anyway) While the goods are evidently mass produced in some third world country, if your a trade aid groupie, probably best not to shop here. They are constantly having sales on already reduced prices which you can't really complain about. I have found many canvas prints at Typo that are currently hanging out pride of place in my apartment and little lantern fairy lights that just look awesome hanging in my bedroom

What a wonderful store, such a great range of product. If you needed to buy a gift for a female…read morethen this would be a good bet. I often come through Newmarket and admire their window displays which are lots of fun, but inside, there is so much to take in. You cannot go by what you see on their website, you have to go into the store. There is stuff in here you would not need until you saw it, such as an owl ornament and bright coloured candelabras. When Mothers Day is upon you, come here. You could pretty much by anything in here, the store buyers have made the gift selection edit, all you need to do is pay for it. To make things easy, they do have gift wrap and cards too so it is a one stop, Mother pleasing gift shop. Either that or good for female friends.

When it's my mum's birthday, this is the first place I'm going to come to look for a gift to send…read moreback to the UK for her. The store specialises in inoffensive jewellery, nice smelling soaps and body lotions--Mum Mecca. They've got a great selection of Kiwiana- so perfect for gifts to send abroad- and they have a really good selection of jewellery from popular NZ brands such as Kagi and Karen Walker, so it's nice to know that what you're buying is locally sourced. It's not a place you're going to find the most fashion-forward or out of the ordinary gifts, but what they do sell is of great quality and reasonably priced. The store is clearly aware that it is a "gift" shop and that they are selling things for people to buy for other people. The staff are attentive and clearly know what they're talking about, which I imagine must be a godsend to men looking to buy gifts for the women in their life!